1  Semester 1 Week 1

1.1 Getting to know each other, topics, proposals

In the first session, the purpose is mainly to get to know each other - what topics are students interested in? We also have a look over what is required for the dissertation proposal and discuss what they can expect as part of supervision.

1.1.1 Introductions and topics

  • Everyone introduces themselves and the general topic/s that they are interested in. Do they have a fixed idea or are they still deciding? Do they know what approach they want to take, methodologically? Do they have any questions?

1.1.2 Format of supervision

  • I then discuss the general process of supervision
    • Expectations I have (stated in the sway) and what students can expect from me
    • Individual vs. group sessions (including how these differ, what the function of each is)
    • Explain the importance of getting ethics done at an early stage in the process
    • Discuss a general timeline of the project (everyone’s will look a bit different though)
      • Typically, intros are sent in December/early Jan, methods in Jan/Feb and Results or Analysis in Feb.
      • Sections can be sent together or separately.
      • Everyone should choose deadlines for each section and it will be added to the deadline spreadsheet.
      • I have a cut off for accepting drafts. This is usually two weeks before the deadline, so students should keep this in mind when setting deadlines (they should give themselves some wiggle room).
    • Show the students the folder with dissertation resources I’ve gathered together. This will be everything covered in the group sessions, plus anything else that’s useful
    • Show students the spreadsheet to track drafts etc. We’ll discuss possible deadlines in individual supervision
    • They will have to juggle the dissertation alongside other courses, so will need to work consistently on it but also take advantage of the quieter periods to work on it.
  • Some things I cover, in terms of project management:
    • It’s worth setting up a reference manager now if they don’t already use one (e.g. Zotero)
    • Project management will be very important - there’s information on using Planner in the Moodle

1.1.3 Writing a proposal

Different supervisors have different ways of approaching the proposal - as most of the students working with me tend to do somewhat sensitive topics, I am very mindful of not delaying ethics too much and therefore ask them to work on the proposal and also make a start on ethics pretty soon after. But, they would need to have a very clear idea of the project and how they were going to set it up in this case.

Some things I discuss with students and ask them to think about:

  • Why are they conducting the study?
  • What do they want to find out? - What data will they need?
  • Who are they going to recruit? From where?
  • What would your RQ/hypotheses be?
  • If quant, what analysis would you do for each hypothesis?
  • If qual, how are you planning to analyse your data and why?

I also direct the students to the information on proposal writing on the Moodle.

1.1.4 Other things to cover

  • I show the students where the Dissertation-specific Moodle is (usually there are at least a few who aren’t aware of this)
  • I introduce the idea of deciding between College vs. intranet for ethics (which route we go down will depend on their project)
  • Mention that one things I’m doing is building up a bank of data that future students can use. Ideally, I would like all projects that collect data to have an option in it for storage of the data and keeping it so students can analyse it in the future.